The Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst
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Read this book to appreciate the writer's unparalleled mastery of the language and an enviable genius that he possesses at getting across his fiery dazzling display of ideas. His expression is exceedingly rich, thick and creamy like a sizeable chunk of delectable chocolate cake that you shovel into your mouth and allow it to tease and tantalise those tastebuds before it iniquitously melts away into the obcurity of your mouth leaving you quarter-miffed and three-quarters craving more.
Be that ...more
Be that ...more
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Read in January, 2006
An unusually powerful and deserving winner of the Man Book Prize, this is one of the few books that took me over a year to read, not because it was ever boring or sluggish, but because each sentence was so beautiful, I wanted to give every passage its due attention. I rarely say such things about books, so Hollinghurst must be a magician or a hypnotist. As it took me so long to read, I spent an embarrassing amount of time repeating to people who asked me what I was reading that it was Line of Beauty,...more
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Read in November, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AWARD WINNING CAST REUNITED FOR 'THE LINE OF BEAUTY' ADAPTATION.
(HOLLYWOOD, Nov 25, 2007)
Academy Award winning producer Alan Ball announced today that he has reunited most of the cast of Six Feet Under for an HBO production of the award-winning English novel, "The Line of Beauty."
The 12 episode mini-series will tell the story of Nick Guest ("David Fisher"), a young homosexual who has managed to con his way into the hearts and minds of t...more
AWARD WINNING CAST REUNITED FOR 'THE LINE OF BEAUTY' ADAPTATION.
(HOLLYWOOD, Nov 25, 2007)
Academy Award winning producer Alan Ball announced today that he has reunited most of the cast of Six Feet Under for an HBO production of the award-winning English novel, "The Line of Beauty."
The 12 episode mini-series will tell the story of Nick Guest ("David Fisher"), a young homosexual who has managed to con his way into the hearts and minds of t...more
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Read in August, 2007
I'd been meaning to look into Hollinghurst for years, ever since I read an exuberant review of The Swimming Pool Library... by a writer whose opinion I respected but whom I can't remember now. Martin Amis, maybe? I want to say John Updike, but given the controversy over his New Yorker review of Hollinghurst's later The Spell, I'm not sure I could handle the i...more
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Read in February, 2008
What I liked about this book was the density and observation of the narration. Each twitch of a muscle and blush on a person's face is broken down into a character analysis- it makes the writing touching and thoughtful.
What I didn't love was the story itself: it is hard to see it as more than a description of the decadent, reckless urban 1980's. Though the characters are accurately described, they each seem to represent a different stereotype of the decade- the ruthless moneymakers, their vic...more
What I didn't love was the story itself: it is hard to see it as more than a description of the decadent, reckless urban 1980's. Though the characters are accurately described, they each seem to represent a different stereotype of the decade- the ruthless moneymakers, their vic...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
young homos and the people that love them
It's been a while (and by a while, I don't mean a certain number of months, but a certain number of a certain kind of months) since I read this book. But I wanted to say at least this:
The Line of Beauty contains some of the most beautiful passages in fiction I've read in, well, my life. The book is rich, thick and overflowing. Meanwhile things come across well-placed, timed, pertinent.
It's gay fiction for gays who love reading (and not just for gays who love reading about gays, which is ...more
The Line of Beauty contains some of the most beautiful passages in fiction I've read in, well, my life. The book is rich, thick and overflowing. Meanwhile things come across well-placed, timed, pertinent.
It's gay fiction for gays who love reading (and not just for gays who love reading about gays, which is ...more
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Read in January, 2005
I really liked this. I found it more coherent as a whole for a Hollinghurst novel; it has a very wide scope of subjects - Thatcherism, materialism, class, homosexuality, aesthetism, money...and that's just for starters - and it made me work for understanding as I read, while being an entirely absorbing book to read because he just about manages to tie it all in at the end without a pat resolution. It's a period novel about Britain in the 80s, but even with my limited understanding of the tension...more
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It's London in the 1980s and Nick Guest is staying with a Tory parliamentarian, whose son was a friend from university. Lord Fedden is a seemingly unblemished figure, a well-heeled, well-connected Londonite who Nick seeks to impress but more importantly, not to offend. At the same time, Nick, who has put behind the fantasies of his time at Cambridge for the realities of London, finally feels free to live his sexuality, first by pursuing an exhilerating relationship with an energetic, experienc...more
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Read in January, 2008
Finally finished... the plot started to pick up -or rather, the author found the plot- in the last third of the book or so, but that was 300+ pages in. Painful.
The writing was supposed to by lyrical and graceful, but it was just long-winded and poorly executed. For beautiful prose, this book tries but does not hit the mark. The author needed a better editor, one who loves the delete key. It may be because I have been reading this book sporadically over the past year or more, but at the end ...more
The writing was supposed to by lyrical and graceful, but it was just long-winded and poorly executed. For beautiful prose, this book tries but does not hit the mark. The author needed a better editor, one who loves the delete key. It may be because I have been reading this book sporadically over the past year or more, but at the end ...more
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Read in August, 2007
Reviewers describe this as a witty social satire about the worst elements of the 1980s - a superficial politician, a greed for wealth and recognition, manipulation of the media, over the top lifestyles that are ultimately empty, drugs and AIDS - but I couldn't help thinking that at times I was reading a gay Mills and Boons romance novel. I couldn't see what all the descriptive sex acts brought to the story. I think we could get the idea of a gay lifestyle (the author's view of it anyway) without...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
Joey M
Won the Booker last year. And, in theory, I liked this book - the hypocrisy of an MP and his crazy wealthy family in the era of Thatcher and AIDS. But, I just couldn't quite get myself to stop thinking that I was reading Literature and get into the book and the people. The character's gayness, and his flings, were interesting enough. But overall, I just really couldn't like anybody (OK, except the main character's first boyfriend, but his five minutes did not make the rest of the novel). It wasn...more
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Read in August, 2007
"It sounds like Henry James called everyone beautiful and marvellous," said Sam, a little sourly, "from what you say."
"Oh, beautiful, magnificent... wonderful. I supposed it's really more what the characters calls each other, especially when they're being wicked. in the later books, you know, they do it more and more, when actually, they're more and more ugly -- in a moral sense."
"Right..." said Simon.
"The worse they are the more they see ...more
"Oh, beautiful, magnificent... wonderful. I supposed it's really more what the characters calls each other, especially when they're being wicked. in the later books, you know, they do it more and more, when actually, they're more and more ugly -- in a moral sense."
"Right..." said Simon.
"The worse they are the more they see ...more
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Read in June, 2005
This is the story of Nick Guest, a young gay man, who moves into the home of the Feddens – Gerald is a Tory MP, Rachael his wealthy wife, Toby the son is Nick’s friend from school and daughter Catherine. The story starts in 1983, jumps to 1986 and then to 1987. In 1983 Nick is naïve and just beginning to explore his sexuality. He befriends Leo, a black council worker and has an affair with him. In 1986 he commences an affair with old school friend Wani – a rich drug addict. AIDS and affa...more
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Read in June, 2007
This book was something of a difficult read, for no real reason other than it takes place in a world of manners and words that seem a little alien to me. For a long time I found myself unable to enjoy it because I only had the time to read in short busts, and it was only when I freed up enough time to spend long periods reading it, and actually get into the world within the novel, that I truly began to enjoy it.
The main character, Nick Guest, is an enigma - he gets swept along by whoever pa...more
The main character, Nick Guest, is an enigma - he gets swept along by whoever pa...more
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this is definitely one of those books that has grown on me since finishing it.
great characters (nick especially -- he was such a complex and unpredictable character for me as a reader). the settings were fantastic, especially nick's hometown (gerald's visit there is so well-written). the social commentary aspect of the book is great too -- a really interesting and heart-wrenching take on what it must have been like to be a gay man coming of age in a world shocked by the AIDS epidemic.
...more
great characters (nick especially -- he was such a complex and unpredictable character for me as a reader). the settings were fantastic, especially nick's hometown (gerald's visit there is so well-written). the social commentary aspect of the book is great too -- a really interesting and heart-wrenching take on what it must have been like to be a gay man coming of age in a world shocked by the AIDS epidemic.
...more
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Read in May, 2008
Be Forewarned. This well-written society critique and winner of the 2004 Man Booker prize will bore the pants off you unless you are deeply interested in class struggle, gayness, politics, ethnicity, and AIDs, (the intersection of) in England in the mid-to-late 80s. Oh, and antiques. Talk about a niche!
It was one of two books I brought on my 20 hour flight to Singapore, where I was planning on enjoying, at long last, some time to myself to read. About 50 pages into it, my mind cried, "N...more
It was one of two books I brought on my 20 hour flight to Singapore, where I was planning on enjoying, at long last, some time to myself to read. About 50 pages into it, my mind cried, "N...more
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Read in November, 2007
I generally love books that won the Booker prize, and I reall am not a prude, but I was a bit shocked by the relatively graphic sex scenes and the gratuitious cocaine use. I understand, of course, that the author was painting a picutre of a lifestyle in 1980's London, and I appreciated that; it just took me a minute to adjust my expectations.
The author writes beautifully, and does a great job illustrating the contrast between the conservative family (in love with Margaret Thatcher), and the y...more
The author writes beautifully, and does a great job illustrating the contrast between the conservative family (in love with Margaret Thatcher), and the y...more
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Read in March, 2006
I'm mixed on this one. The characters are beautifully crafted, the era (1980s London) is brilliantly captured and the story well told-with a twist that changes the languid to the anguished. It was all very Henry James and I mean that with the greatest respect.
I think what I struggled with is the utter depravity and despicability of these people- the pointlessness of their privileged, selfish lives. The sex wasn't shocking but it did get tiresome- I'd rather have learned more about the famil...more
I think what I struggled with is the utter depravity and despicability of these people- the pointlessness of their privileged, selfish lives. The sex wasn't shocking but it did get tiresome- I'd rather have learned more about the famil...more
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i loved this book. alan hollinghurst's milieu is the white gay british upper-class - and, of course, by writing about upper-class gay men he's pretty much laboring in a genre that has been done to death. but he's very intentional in the ways that he draws attention to the nuances of class and race and sexual difference, and it doesn't hurt that his writing is absolutely gorgeous. this book is explicit without ever being gratuitous, and lyrical without ever being pretentious. highlights were nick...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone looking to start a really good book!
This book was so good. The book takes place in the 1980s in England. The main character is Nick guest, a young gay man living with the family of a Conservative member of Parliment. The book touches on themes like money, politics, power, and the AIDS epidemic. I think that Nick Guest is the most vivid and endearing character ever. Alan Hollinghurst now has a spot at the top of my list of very favorite contemporary writers (along with Zadie Smith). The writing/style was so graceful & insig...more
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